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Today I’m speaking with Vincent Dickie, who helps coaches and therapists create a more profitable online business. We’re talking about a super interesting topic, and that is the dreaded P-word - positioning.   It can seem like a scary proposition to put your stake in the ground and say “this is who I serve”, because it feels like you’re turning away work. But as Vincent details in this episode, it’s a fear worth getting over, and the benefits are endless.   In this episode we cover:   How Vincent went from the business world, to the health and wellness space, and back to business (and why) Why it is so important to position your business within a certain niche A 3 step process to define your ideal client How to overcome the mindset that your are “alienating” other clients who aren’t in your niche How to make yourself referral-worthy by focusing and specializing Why you won’t get bored by just focusing on one specific niche How do you test your audience, and whether you’re a good fit for them? Where do you start with positioning once you’ve decided on your niche How positioning affects your pricing and how much people value your services Tools you can use to amplify your positioning   Resources Mentioned:   Vincent’s website Risk Free Funnel podcast Active Campaign

Today I’m speaking with Kevin Koskella from Workhero. Kevin turned Tri Swim Coach, his business teaching swimmers to become triathletes, into a full time, location independent, online business. Today he works with entrepreneurs around what he teaches triathletes: you need experts so you can be the most successful.   That's why in 2017, Kevin founded Work Hero, a subscription service that helps online entrepreneurs by accomplishing their design and technical tasks so they have the freedom to focus on the work they do best.   We have a great conversation about removing tedious tasks, including:   How Kevin got the idea for Workhero What’s the problem with “doing it all yourself”? How to find great people, at minimal cost Where to find great people, and what to look for How to distill good applications and cover letters from bad ones How to negotiate with freelancers to get the best bang for your buck The top things people need to be outsourcing right now

Today I’m speaking with Bob Tripathi. Bob has worked with SMB's and enterprises like Discover Financial, Sears Holdings, iEmployee.com, and many others to achieve massive growth through his marketing skills and sales alignment capabilities.   We have a super interesting conversation about a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and that is sales and marketing alignment. Marketing should generate leads, sales should close them. Simple, right? Aligned.   Well, no - it’s never that simple. A lot of the time the two departments are essentially at war - that’s not good. Bob and I discuss how to avoid that very problem.   We cover:   How to create sales and marketing alignment How to build trust between the 2 departments The elements of a nurture sequence How leads are scored by marketing How can marketing help sales succeed with better lead quality? Account Based Marketing (ABM) Sales are having conversations - what specific activities are marketing doing The tech stack you need from a marketing point of view to run an effective ABM strategy   Resources mentioned:   BobTripathi.com Eloqua Hubspot SalesForce Pardot Marketo SharpSpring

No guest this week, just me :) This is the audio playback of the critically acclaimed B2B Podcasting Workshop, brought to you by Content Kite (OK, maybe it’s not critically acclaimed, but it’s had great feedback!).   This is obviously the audio only, and if you would like the video version you can get that here.   If you would like MORE depth, and MORE detail about this very topic, you are in luck. We’ve just completed our FREE course on B2B Podcasting. It’s a 6-parter and it is jam packed with actionable information.   You can access the FREE B2B Podcasting Course here.   I hope you get a lot out of it :)

You need to know what your customers want - your business depends on it. Do they enjoy the experience of working with you? If the answer is no, that is a big, big problem. And the only way to know is to extract feedback from your customers. User experience, pricing, customer service - all things that can be drastically approved through quality customer feedback. But first, you need to get it.   Today I’m speaking with Baptiste Debever of Feedier, a customer feedback tool. Baptiste had this very problem of needing more customer feedback, but not having a quality tool to extract it from customers. So he did what any technical entrepreneur would do and built it! We have a great chat about the use cases for gaining more feedback, as well as building Feedier from the ground up.   We cover:   Why customer feedback is so important for just about any company The best way to go about getting feedback at scale Possible incentives to offer in exchange for feedback What you can uncover from customer feedback data How you use the customer feedback data once you have it Growing Feedier from zero to where it is now (thousands of users) How to get an Appsumo deal Engaging in Slack groups to find users   Resources mentioned:   Feedier Slack

Today I’m speaking with Mikael Yang, the CEO and Founder of Manychat. Manychat is the leading messenger marketing platform for businesses and marketers. If you haven’t heard of messenger marketing, you should start learning - quick! As Mikael outlines in this episode, the opportunities for messenger are endless. They attain an exceptionally high open rate, click rate, more people use messengers than email, they’re growing at a super high rate, and you can make a lot of money by incorporating messenger into your marketing mix. Sold?   Here’s what we talk about: What is messenger marketing? How the market is shifting towards messenger (it’s a big shift) What are the benefits of messenger marketing? How it works, logistically (and how it’s not the same as email) When email is better, and when messenger is better - or, why not do both? The endless opportunities and use cases for messenger Making messenger and email work together with Zapier The growth rate of messenger use, and the opportunity for marketers In China, businesses don’t build websites (some, anyway) - they use messenger Mikael’s thoughts on messenger on Facebook becoming “pay to play” The Conversations Conference - the world’s leading messenger marketing Resources mentioned: Manychat Conversations Conference

“What gets measured gets managed”   These are words to live by, and yet so often they are ignored in so many facets of a business. Do you really know where your team’s time is going? Or your time for that matter? Chances are (if you’re like most other people), you are paying for hours that are not used effectively.   The solution: time tracking (as un-sexy as it sounds…)   Today I’m speaking with Dave Nevogt, the founder of Hubstaff - a time tracking tool for remote teams. Dave and I talk about a range of ways that agencies and service businesses can wildly increase their profitability, simply by noticing where the team’s time is going. When you notice this, you can start to optimise towards the most profitable projects and clients. It really is game changing, and such small tweak to make.   We also talk about the process of growing Hubstaff from the ground up, from zero to where it is today as a company doing over $4 million per year in revenue.   In this episode we cover:   Dave’s background and how he came to start Hubstaff The power of data in business growth Where agencies and service businesses are wasting their time How to become wildly more profitable with simple measurement and optimisation Growing Hubstaff as a SaaS from zero to over $4 million in annual revenue Using content marketing and SEO as a growth channel How (and why) ‘slow and steady’ wins the race Why good data and information changes everything The importance of setting priorities and working on high leverage tasks   Resources mentioned:   Dave Nevogt’s Website Hubstaff

Today I’m speaking with Tom Casano of Sure Oak SEO. Tom is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to the black box that is Google and search engine optimisation. We get super tactical in this episode and uncover a lot of the hidden mysteries in regards to SEO.   From on-site SEO, to content creation, to link building, to outreach - we cover it all. Specifically, we talk about a case study where Tom took a site from zero to 20,000 organic visitors using strong SEO. This is a good one for anyone interested in SEO!   In this episode we cover:   What Google is looking for when they determine how to rank your site How to build links back to your website, and what types of links you should look to build The importance of relationships in SEO Creating a value proposition to potential linkers On-site SEO vs off-site SEO Keyword research and discovery Content - what’s working and what’s not Long form vs short form content - what’s working now How Google is incentivised to keep things from you… Audio and video and how they can be indexed   Resources Mentioned:   Sureoak.com Sujanpatel.com The Sure Oak Podcast

Today I’m speaking with Ahmad Munawar of Boutique Growth. Ahmad helps professional service providers go from "best kept secret" to "booked solid". We’re talking about something that’s obviously very near and dear to my heart, and that’s podcasting.   Ahmad is a prolific podcaster, with 2 podcasts: Forecast - an interview show, and Marketing Out Loud - a daily monologue show. Needless to say, Ahmad knows his stuff when it comes to podcasting.   In this episode we cover:   Ahmad’s background and what he’s doing with Boutique Growth How he got into podcasting Format - interview vs monologue Why you will never run out of content ideas How to make a daily podcast sustainable The importance of thought leadership content How to use podcasting as a prospecting strategy How to use podcasting as credibility booster The tech - what do you need to push daily content Much more...   Resources mentioned:   Free webinar training on generating more leads for your consultancy Boutique Growth Forecast (podcast) Marketing Out Loud (podcast) Ahmad on Linkedin

Today I’m speaking with Mark Tanner, co-founder of Qwilr. Qwilr is an online proposal and document tool with an emphasis on top-notch design. Mark and his co-founder Dylan built the tool because of a pain point they were experiencing - that creating nice looking proposals, quickly, was really hard to do. Qwilr solves that problem. In this episode, we talk about the importance of creating great proposals that are easy to sign off digitally, but also how they grew the company and what has driven the features and functionality they have today. We cover: Why Qwilr was built How to make proposals look great Why the mobile experience is so important to get right with your proposals Quick, simple tips that can have a huge effect on your proposals And more... Resources mentioned: Website: Qwilr.com Mark on Twitter: @marketanner

Today I’m speaking with Ryan Watson of Upsourced Accounting. Ryan and Upsourced Accounting act as an outsourced CFO to creative service businesses, such as agencies. He really knows his stuff when it comes to agency finances, but also the ins and outs of all aspects of running an agency - from a metrics point of view. Whether you want to know about recurring revenue, how much you should pay yourself, selling your business, processes, and much more - this is the episode for you.   In this episode we talk about: What does a CFO do? Biggest mistakes people make in terms of their finances Recurring revenue How to pay yourself, and how much Profit margins, how to think about them, and how to distribute them How to structure your agency if you want to sell it (and why you should structure it that way even if you’re not selling it) A good acid test for whether your business is sellable Creating processes to improve profitability (while enhancing creativity) How much you would expect to sell a business for (depending on your circumstances) Why it’s so important to create a tax plan   Resources mentioned: Ryan’s Firm: Upsourced Accounting   Want to start your own podcast? Check out: https://contentkite.com/workshop

Today I’m speaking with Ryan Meo. Ryan is the founder of ScaleSquad, an outsourced white labeling agency for digital agencies. Due to the nature of what he does, his business requires extreme efficiency. Everything is documented and the processes run like clockwork. Ryan gives a ton away in this episode and I know you’ll get a lot out of it! “The better your processes, the more margin you will make” In this episode we cover: The importance of creating processes in your business What kinds of processes should you create What tools do you need? Docs? Videos? etc. Onshoring vs offshoring - what to do where The importance of staff retention Resources mentioned: Ryan’s company - ScaleSquad This episode is brought to you by Content Kite Podcasting.  

Today I’m speaking with Jon Buchan. Jon got drunk one night and send a cold email to senior people at big companies. And you know what? They replied - they wanted to meet with him! Since then, Jon has been breaking all of the rules when it comes to business communication, and it has continued to work. Because it’s different. Too often people think business communication needs to be serious, to the point, direct etc. etc. Not the case, and Jon is proving it day after day. You should definitely check out his Facebook Group - Charm Offensive.   In this episode we discuss: Why the rules can and should be broken when it comes business communication People don’t stop enjoying humour when they become a CEO Doing the same thing as everyone else doesn’t work anymore How to be funny, even if you’re not funny How humour as a selection mechanism - you weed out the stiffs Comedy principles How to not over do it (because you can over do it) Much more   Resources mentioned: Jon’s website - charm-offensive.co.uk Jon’s Facebook Group - Charm Offensive

Today I’m speaking with Maury Rogow of Rip Media Group. Maury has launched over 100 brands and 3 successful startups using visual storytelling structure. One of his earliest lessons was being a part of selling a startup to Cisco Systems for $2 Billion. He is an out of the box thinker and delivers real results with video first marketing.   Maury and I are talking all about story. In particular, how you can use stories in you   In this episode we cover:   What is your “brand”? How your brand will live or die based on the story you tell (no, really) How to structure a story (no matter the context) Lessons from Saving Private Ryan Brands that are killing it with story How to make a boring brand, exciting (by using story) The best channels to tell your brand’s story The “STUFF” framework for telling stories (listen to get the details!)   Resources and links mentioned:   Rip Media Group The “C.O.R.E.” principle to get the most out of your videos Creative Brief from Rip Media Group Maury’s book - Rise of the Entrepreneur Dollar Shave Club viral video

Today I’m joined by Vin Clancy. If you don’t know about Vin, you should.   He founded the online magazines Planetivy.com & screenrobot.com, which received nearly 20 million pageviews in their first two years with zero marketing spend raising two rounds of funding and getting into the “Techstars” accelerator, while content he has overseen for other clients has received over 150 million page views so far.   His first growth hacking book raised over $100,000 in pre-orders (and almost $200k overall), which he supported with a 100-date speaking tour in ten countries around the world. He has spoken in nearly 40 different cities in ten different countries.   His "growth hacking in real time" talk was voted best talk at SXSW V2V in Las Vegas.   His audience across all channels totals nearly half a million followers.   He runs one of the biggest growth hacking Facebook groups in the world, Traffic and Copy, which has over 10,000 highly engaged members, high daily engagement and contributions from thousands of entrepreneurs.   Right now Vin teaches company founders, influencers, and marketing managers how to grow their companies through a combination of rapid social media growth, and guerrilla community management tactics, in his private coaching groups, and through consulting with Marketing executives.   He can be found at Http://vinclancy.com and his new book at Http://acethegame.com   Here’s what we cover:   How to build a Facebook Group to 20k+ people How Vin would start an agency from scratch Cold email and outreach on Linkedin - how to make it work Systematising referrals Public speaking and how to get speaking gigs A ton of growth hacks you can go and use right now How to get more agency clients How to structure your agency to be profitable with all kinds of clients

In this episode I want to do something a little different… I don’t have a guest, it’s just me. I saw a question come up in a Facebook group about starting a business from scratch and transitioning from their full time job. I found myself writing a lengthy answer, so I thought I’d do a podcast episode about it.   This episode applies to people starting from scratch, but also people who are already established but starting a new service line or offering in their current business.   Here’s the question:   “I want to take the entrepreneurial leap and start my own business. I’m currently working in a job and am willing to stick it out for another 6-12 months, until I’m confident in my ability to replace my income.   My background is in customer service/customer success. I’m thinking something like customer service consulting, or a service in that space.   If you were starting a business from scratch, how would you approach this?”   In this episode I talk about:   The structure of the business I would set up How I’d handle payment, monetization etc. Niching and it’s importance Scaling the services and incorporating a value ladder Cash flow positivity and how to achieve it from the word go Using offshore labor What to have in place before quitting your job Asking for referrals Systems, repeatability, and documentation (so important) Delegating service delivery Finding a reliable lead gen channel Delegating sales Much more...   Resources mentioned:   Work the System book

Today I’m speaking with Nicholas Scalice, of Earnworthy and Landing Page School. Nicholas is an absolute expert when it comes to landing page optimization, and gives us all of the juicy goods in this episode.   To put it in perspective: if you have a page that generates $100,000 in a year, and you increase the conversion rate of that page by 20% (very achievable), then you will make $20,000 more that year. And that 20% increase could be done with some very minor tweaks - it’s powerful. It’s certainly something you should be thinking about before you go spilling money into paid traffic to an unoptimized page.   In this episode we discuss:   What a landing page is, and how it differs from a “standard” page The core elements of a landing page (and how to optimize them) The biggest mistakes Nicholas sees people making with landing pages Examples of a campaign where you would want to use a landing page, over just using a standard page from your website The kind of results you would expect from optimizing a landing page for your goal Specific tools that make it easier to create landing pages How the “money” in landing page optimization is in the testing - not the initial design The “FOAM” framework in landing page optimization   Resources mentioned:   Growth Marketing Toolbox (Nicholas’ podcast) Landing Page School (Nicholas’ training site) Earnworthy (Nicholas’ agency)

Today I’m talking with AJ Wilcox of B2Linked, a Linkedin ads agency. I’m especially excited about this episode, because Linkedin ads just aren’t something you hear about that much about. We hear plenty about Facebook ads, Adwords, PPC in general, but never about Linkedin ads.   Most people write it off as too expensive, or not something that can work for them, but AJ dispels a lot of those myths. Without giving too much away, if a customer is worth $15,000 to you or more, you’re going to have success with Linkedin ads. I’d say this applies to a lot of agencies and consultants.   In this episode we cover:   Who should be thinking about Linkedin ads (types of businesses) Why there is such a great opportunity with the platform What you need to be able to run ads (i.e. content) How to set up targeting (and who you should be targeting) A few points on how to approach the conversion and sales process Retargeting Sponsored content, ads, pictures etc. - your ad copy and content Much more - this is a tactical episode :) How to reduce your CPC from ~$8 to about ~$2 (seriously - stick around til the end)   Resources mentioned:   B2Linked (AJ’s Linkedin ads agency) - you won’t get pitched if you fill out the form Free Linkedin ads startup checklist

Today I’m speaking with Mark Lindquist. Mark heads up the content marketing operation over at Mailshake, which is a tool I use and firmly stand behind. Mailshake has one of the best blogs out there on sales and marketing - you should check it out. Mark is a prolific content marketer and writer and has written countless articles that rank on page one of Google, have been shared hundreds of times, and are considered authoritative articles in their niches. Mark really doesn't hold back in this episode, and gives really tactical advice you can take and run with. In this episode we cover: Why promoting your content is so important How content promotion that moves the need is virtually impossible without relationships with large influencers The exact process Mark uses to build relationships with big-name influencers (Mark really is an expert at this and doesn’t hold back) Why relationship building is the most sustainable lever you can pull for content marketing in the long run Resources mentioned: Mailshake blog Mark’s exact process for building relationships with influencers in relevant niches Mark on Linkedin

Today I’m speaking with Alex Berman, chairman and founder of the lead generation agency, Experiment 27. Alex is responsible for generating millions in B2B sales for his clients over the course of his career. He also creates weekly videos to help agency owners grow their businesses and bring in more revenue teaching them how to optimize B2B sales cycles and put inbound marketing strategies in place. When it comes to lead generation for digital agencies, Alex is the guy. You can check out his stuff on Experiment 27 and Youtube.   Here’s what we covered (it’s a lot): Using Quora to generate leads Local meetups and events Optimising your presence in directories such as Clutch.co Cold email (yes it still works, despite what you heard) Linkedin outreach Automation vs personalisation Messaging - how to create the perfect outreach message Agency partnerships Webinars How to prioritise your marketing activities   Resources: B2B Sales Training Alex’s Youtube channel Experiment27